An Engineer’s Perspective: Systems-Based Thinking

In engineering (and in most other fields) every decision ripples through an interconnected web of cause and effect. Whether designing a tiny gear or planning a city’s water system, engineers must think holistically – considering not just the individual components, but how they interconnect and influence each other. This systems-based thinking, while fundamental to engineering, offers valuable insights that can transform how we approach business operations and organizational processes. Through the lens of two engineers in my life – my husband, a mechanical engineer, and my sister, an environmental engineering student – I’ve come to appreciate how this perspective can revolutionize how we solve problems and make decisions in any field.

My husband works as a mechanical engineer and with everything he designs, he has to take into consideration how that one (potentially small) piece will influence the whole. Most of his job involves the process of designing custom pieces of equipment for industrial & manufacturing clients. When drafting a design, he has to consider the system it’ll work within. 

• How much pressure will this need to withstand? 
• How much heat and friction will the mechanism produce? 
• Will the part need to be more flexible or more stiff to create the desired effect in the machine? 

Without considering all of these moving parts, he could end up with unintended consequences, like the part breaking or melting, or it causing damage to the machine it’s meant to make work properly. He has to consider the impact the machine has on the part and the impact the part has on the machine. 

My sister is getting her degree in environmental engineering, which includes everything from energy systems to waste disposal to stormwater management. In her classes, she’s encouraged to consider how external circumstances might influence the effectiveness of an HVAC system or drinking water treatment. 

• How does the outside temperature affect how the inside of a heated building feels? 
• How much more energy will the heater or air conditioner use based on different temperatures and sun exposure? 
• How will recent rainfall affect the type of treatment drinking water needs? 
• How will the age of the infrastructure influence the amount and type of disinfectant needed during water treatment? 

She calls these open systems because she has to consider not only the parts of the immediate system but also how other systems and factors might influence them. 

An Introduction to Systems Thinking

There are a variety of careers where “systems thinking” is required, from engineers to ecologists, economists, policymakers, and even business owners. Systems thinking is a method of thinking, planning, and problem-solving that involves looking at the relationships between the individual components of a system and their relationship with the overall function of the system, as opposed to considering each piece as an independent individual. Put simply, it’s thinking about how one thing impacts all of the other things around it, instead of just looking at the one thing by itself. 

This mindset is important for business owners to better understand their business and its success and ensure sustainable and consistent growth. It’s, unfortunately, all too common for business executives to ignore the relationships between areas of their business and their relationships to their goals, and then be confused when, say, their department’s productivity goes down after laying off 15% of their team. Or for a small business owner to struggle with sales after ignoring their marketing funnels for 6 months. 

On a broader scale, it’s also important for business owners to remember the role their business plays in their community and in the world. For example, when Chick-fil-A decided to add blueberries to their fruit cups, they had to consider what increasing the demand for blueberries on that scale would do to the world’s supply of blueberries – literally, they had to figure out if there were enough blueberries in the world for a business of that size to start using them in their fruit cups. Or, in another example, how many beverage companies started using plastic as their primary bottling material, despite the fact that it can’t biodegrade, and now those bottles are one of the most littered objects in the world and a major contributor to the plastic crisis. 

So, what exactly does systems thinking look like for small business owners like us? I believe it comes down to looking at your business as both a closed system and an open system. (What does this mean exactly? Glad you asked! We’re about to dive into it.) 

Your Business as a Closed System

Looking at your business as a “closed system” includes looking at all of the various parts of your business and how they affect each other, strictly only within your business. We mentioned the positive relationship between marketing funnels and sales, but there’s also a positive relationship between client experience and sales. Your client experience has a positive relationship with you and your team’s performance. But an increase in sales means an increase in client work, which can negatively impact work-life balance if you exceed a certain amount of work. This means that both the work-life balance of you and your team and client experience (which increases sales) are positively related to capacity planning. This creates what’s called a feedback loop, a series of relationships that loop around to impact itself. Systems thinking can be easier when it’s modeled, so here’s a diagram of the past example:

So there’s a positive feedback loop between team performance, client experience, and sales, but too many sales in a defined time frame can negatively impact work-life balance, and negatively impacting work-life balance would hurt your team performance, which would hurt client experience and sales. In this case, capacity planning works like a thermometer to let you know when your sales are “too hot” and you might need to say no (or “in a few months”) to a few opportunities to keep the system in balance, or decrease the amount of work you’re putting into your marketing funnels to decrease new client interest for a period of time. 

This is a relatively simple example; in real life, business can look a lot more complex and messy, and there are many more pieces at play than those shown above. But mapping out your internal systems like this can give you a stronger understanding of how your business works and what strategies will best help you reach your goals while keeping you, your team, and your clients happy. 

Your Business as an Open System

Thinking of your business as an open system is a lot different for a small business compared with a major corporation; we don’t have to worry about destroying the world’s supply of blueberries or being a major contributor to the plastic crisis, but we do have to worry about how our business impacts our lives and our communities, and vice versa. 

For example, my daughter’s ability to go to daycare strongly influences my ability to be productive in my work. Georgia recently had a winter storm pass through, like most of the US, which meant that I was unable to work two days of that week because her daycare was closed. That formed a negative feedback loop in my typical work-life balance because her being those days home kept me from working during normal hours. This led to me working late nights once she was asleep each night that week to make up for that lost time. This means, crazily enough, two snow days have the ability to disrupt both my work performance and our routines for a week or more later! (Don’t get me wrong, playing in the snow with my daughter was a blast! But this is a great example of how external factors can influence our businesses.) 

Using systems thinking in this way can help you plan for what to do if there are supply chain disruptions, if you or a family member catch an illness, and avoid creating unintended consequences that could hurt your business long term. Thinking through all of the external elements that can influence your business helps you to plan strategically. 

Overall, systems thinking is a handy skill for business owners who want to grow and guide their business strategically and stay well prepared for potential crises, high growth seasons, and more. If you found this article helpful, consider subscribing to our email list for more practical business tips and stories from lived experiences with growing a business!